Ilaiyaraaja Drags Dude Team To Court Over Unauthorised Use Of His Songs In Pradeep Ranganathan Starrer

Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju starrer Dude is performing well at the box office. Even during the Diwali festivities, the collections of the rom-com did not decline and this a good sign for the film which will complete its first week run on October 23. However, an unexpected legal battle now awaits the makers.

As per reports, iconic composer Ilaiyaraaja has issued a legal notice to the music label Sony Music India for using his popular songs—Karutha Machan from the 1991 Tamil film Pudhu Nellu Pudhu Naathu and another—without proper authorisation. Some reports suggest that the production house Mythri Movie Makers obtained licenses for the use of the songs and paid around ₹15–20 lakh for the two tracks, but Ilaiyaraaja’s team considers this unauthorised since Sony Music India lacked his approval for "moral rights".

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Mythri Movie Makers faced Ilaiyaraaja's wrath earlier this year when his lawsuit against the unauthorised use of his tracks in Ajith Kumar starrer Good Bad Ugly led to the movie being removed from Netflix. Dude is also backed by the same production house and it remains to be seen how they proceed against Ilaiyaraaja now.

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Officially, Ilaiyaraaja has been granted permission to file a case against the Dude film crew, and the hearing has been scheduled to continue next month. During the hearing today (October 22), Judge N Senthilkumar heard arguments from both sides in the case. Senior advocate S Prabhakaran, representing Ilaiyaraaja, said that Sony Music India has not yet filed a response and that his songs are still being used without permission in Dude. Senior advocate Vijay Narayanan, representing the music label, said that Sony has filed income statements and is ready to file a reply. He also said that the Supreme Court has ordered that Sony Corporation file a petition seeking the transfer of more than 500 music copyright cases from the Bombay High Court to the Madras High Court.